Heart Strings
by Sheankelor
Summary: A two chapter story at the opposite ends of the series, one before and one after. Why do the senshi always find each other? Rate T just to be cautious. Written for sm monthly.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Meeting for the first time  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Setsuna (origins)  
Genre: General  
Version: Anime or Manga  
Rating: G 

Setsuna and her friends all belong to Takeuchi Naoko. I just asked them very nicely if they wanted to play. They agreed, and quietly snuck out without Takeuchi-sensei's knowledge.

The dark green starseed floated over in the shadows where she felt she belonged. Looking out over the roiling vastness of the cauldron, Guardian Pluto watched the unborn stars mingle and group together. 

"They are forming groups. The leaders are collecting their protectors."

As she watched the strong ones were collecting around them groups of similar starseeds. She longed to be picked, and be part of one of those groups. Looking around she didn't see any others like her.

"I wonder what happens to the ones left? The ones that are not quite like the others."

Pondering that question, she focused on one very bright white starseed. It was floating around, bouncing from one grouping to the next. She felt herself brighten just by watching it bounce.

"The little one appears to be trying to fit into each group."

The white starseed slowly stopped going form one group to another. Pluto felt sorry for it as it dimmed. Then just when she thought the little light would go out, it started glowing again, but a soft, gentle light.

The gently glowing star then approached a softly glowing blue star drifting off by itself. Pluto watched as the blue light joined her. Then they both went to a fiercely glowing red star. In the presence of the white light, the red star's light gentled. Slowly the gentle white star collected a gold star, and then a bright green one. Pluto felt a small hope build in her, hoping that this little one would take her in as well. Then she noticed the similarities of all the stars she had collected. They were all bright lights. None had any darkness in them. When she picked up a soft sea-green and then one slightly darker blue than first one, Pluto was sure about it. The little one was looking for only bright stars. 

Mentally sighing, she stop watching the little light, and started looking for others as dark as herself. Finally she spotted a little starseed that was a violet that was almost black. It took her a moment to figure out just how strong she was. Pluto drifted over to her, hoping they could be together. Right before she arrived, she felt a strong light approach. Glancing around, she saw the gentle white star, and as the light fell upon the dark purple star, it glowed all shades of violet. It was darker on the outside, and faded to the palest lavender in the center.

Pluto felt her disappointment rising as the violet starseed also joined the group. As she started to leave, she felt the touch of the gentle, white light she had been watching all this time. The soft light seemed to fill her with a quiet warmth of acceptance. Pluto turned to face the small starseed. There in the middle was a small, blonde headed girl smiling at her.

The blonde girl spoke in a quiet, serene voice. "Would you care to join us? Or have you already found a group of friends to be with?"

Pluto let her gaze travel over the group. In each of the starseeds was a girl, and they were smiling at her. _'I'm wanted. They truly want me to join them.'_ She smiled back at them. "Yes, I would pleased to join you."

She was pulled into the large circle. The white star seed was in the middle, but Pluto didn't feel like she was forcing them to accept her as leader, unlike some of the other leaders out there. _'No, she is our leader because she brought us all together. She has accepted us even though we are all different from each other.'_ And they were each very different.

Suddenly she felt a tremor in the cauldron. The whole group looked startled, and slightly fearful. Looking around Pluto saw the other starseeds shooting out of the cauldron. Looking back at her new friends, she could tell they saw it, too. They all drew closer together, trying to hold onto each other. Pluto felt them being pulled apart. She felt like she was being sent far away from them. A sudden energy pulse pushed the group out of the cauldron, splitting them apart. Pluto watched as everyone started drifting apart, aimed for different ends of the universe. _'I guess I was right. I am meant to be alone.'_

As she was letting herself drift away, she heard a loud scream. "No-o-o-o-o!!"  
And the little white light flared brightly. As she watched she saw little streams of the white light unfurl like ribbons, and streak out to herself and the others. She felt the light ribbon gently wrap around her, holding onto her. Looking back down at the white light, she saw the blonde haired girl holding all the light ribbons tightly in her hands. The girl continued speaking, but not a shriek this time. "I just found all of you! I won't lose any of you!" She lifted her head up and looked at all of them floating above her. Pluto looked down into her eyes. "I won't lose my friends!" Her tone was held a promise, one that Pluto was sure would last forever. She looked over to the rest of the group, each of them gently wrapped in ribbons of light. As all of their eyes met, they reached an agreement. Then as one, they reached out and grabbed onto the ribbon and said "We will always be with you." Together they all held on as they were blown further into the universe.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A strong desire  
Author: Ree  
Theme: Ami - translucent  
Genre: General  
Version: Anime/ Manga - Post series, Crystal Tokyo way in the future.  
Rating: G

Most of these characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko. The ones that don't are my creations.

A strong desire 

Mercury frowned slightly at Serenity. "You have to try it. If it doesn't work then we'll figure out something new."

"Why can't we use communicators like we used to?" Serenity returned Mercury's frown.

"We don't know what type of jamming equipment the enemy might have, but I'm sure that they can't block the ties that hold us to you." Mercury tapped a few keys on her computer, giving Serenity a moment to think about what she said. 

Serenity glared at the top of her friend's head. _'She is right. Even though we aren't facing an enemy yet, there is no guarantee when one will show up. And we know one does. Sometime in our future, Chaos is going to attack again.'_ Closing her eyes briefly, she felt a small weight settle on her shoulders. _'And I can't transform into Sailor Moon anymore, nor do I have the Silver Crystal. I must be a burden on them. Or I will be when we are attacked again. I guess I can concede to this. At least try it.'_ A small, soft sigh escaped her.

Looking up at the sigh, Mercury knew that Serenity was ready to try. The look in her queen's bright blue eyes confirmed it. "You should be able to feel the bonds that connect us to you. Venus said that we are tied to your heart crystal. That is why we all came back together. See if you can feel them."

Looking inside of her soul, Serenity felt her heart crystal pure and bright. _'It is so easy to sense it now. Ever since it was pulled out of me.'_ She shifted her focus to the eight bright white ribbons the rayed out from her crystal. _'An eight pointed star. It looks like a compass rose.'_ Somehow she knew that the ribbons on the four main points belonged to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, and the ones on the in-between marks were Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus. "I can feel them."

Mercury felt relieved. "Okay, carefully pull them. I have already told everybody that we were practicing this today, so they won't come running. They will, however, report if they can sense it."

Carefully wrapping her mental fingers around the collection of ribbons, Serenity tugged gently.

Mercury's hand shot up to her chest. She felt as if her heart was burning. The comm lines started beeping as the other senshi called in, reporting the same sensation she had felt.

Serenity heard the comm lines chirping in the background. _'It must have worked. They must have been able to detect that.'_ Relaxing her grip on the ribbons, she cupped her mental hands about her heart crystal. It was reminiscent of the way she used to hold the Silver Crystal. _'I don't want them to rush to my aid. I want to rush to theirs. I want to be able to protect them, to help them, to protect my people, my family.'_ As her fingers tightened around the crystal, she could feel the ribbons streaming off to her friends. She could tell where they connected, where the color blended from pure white to their colors. Subtly shifting from her heart to theirs. _'I want to protect them. I have to find the power to do so.'_

Mercury stared at Serenity as she lifted her hands to chest height in an eerily familiar pose. A faint light glowed between her queen's fingers. _'What... What is that? What is going on? She doesn't have the Silver Crystal anymore. Princess Usagi has it.'_ Peering closer, all she could see was a bright light with eight ribbons streaming off of it. The ribbons were a translucent white with faintly colored ends. Even as her brain registered that there was one ribbon for each of the senshi, she noticed that they were streaming back towards Serenity, covering her in their light. Wrapped in just trailing ribbons, Serenity looked at her. Mercury had seen that determined face more times than she wanted to remember.

Serenity felt the ribbons brushing her skin. _'I will protect them, shield them. Even if I have to cloth myself in them.'_ Wrapping her hands around the bright light, Serenity drew it to her chest.

Mercury watched in amazement as the translucent ribbons wound about Serenity's body, solidifying into a fuku. The colored ends of the ribbons settled into the front of the skirt, under two long ribbons of white connected to a disc with an eight pointed star. The bright light formed a large crystal atop a long staff. On either side of the crystal was a small pair of wings.

Serenity blinked her eyes slowly as they focused on Mercury.

Mercury stared at the senshi before her. It was Serenity, that much she knew, but she had no clue who the senshi was. There were definite Sailor Moon touches in the senshi's outfit, the little feathers in her hair, the crystals in front of her odangos. But there were distinct differences as well. She was wearing low heals with small wings on them. Her odangos were heart shaped. She was not wearing gloves. But most importantly was that her symbol was an eight pointed star. 

Finding her voice, Mercury heard herself ask the most inane, but important question she had ever asked. "Who...Who are you?"

With a puzzled look on her face, Serenity tipped her head to the side and tightened her grip on the staff. A shocked look came over her face as she realized what she had done. Her gaze flew to her hand and the staff, and from there coursed over what she could see of herself. Finally giving up on spotting all of the changes, she rushed off to a mirror with Mercury hot on her heels. One look in the mirror gave her the answer to Mercury's question. _'I won't be a burden anymore. I can protect them. I can help them. I am a senshi again.'_

Turning to face the Senshi of Wisdom, Selenity smiled happily. "I am Sailor Cosmos."


End file.
